The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

Chapter 734: Utilization of Strategic Petroleum Reserves
United States Washington.

A high-level meeting is taking place with advisors and cabinet members in attendance.

It won't be long before the Gulf War breaks out.

The multinational forces have all arrived, and their weapons, equipment and supplies are almost ready. The countdown has begun to the deadline for Iraq's withdrawal as stipulated in Resolution 660.

Everything is going according to the US plan.

No one would doubt the victory of this war, and no one would think that the Gulf War would be like the Vietnam War, which lasted for more than ten years and ended in disgrace.

The United States now occupies the moral high ground and is absolutely politically correct. In order to achieve this situation, the United States has paid a considerable price, and even the Soviet Union was busy with a major event and had no time to take care of other things.

"Sir, this cannot continue. The international crude oil price has risen to nearly $60 per barrel, and domestic production costs have risen sharply. This has not only had a very adverse impact on our US economy, but also affected our financial markets. A large amount of funds have left the stock market," said the economic adviser worriedly.

All economic experts believe that a sharp rise in oil prices will make the already struggling U.S. economy even worse.

The consultant in charge of storytelling is also complaining: "With the crazy rise in international oil prices, a large amount of funds have withdrawn from storytelling. The stock market has fallen sharply due to severe capital outflows. Only stocks related to crude oil and those related to military industry and food are still relatively active. Technology and industrial stocks have been seriously affected."

The rise in international oil prices has a huge impact on a country's economic development.

Especially for the world's largest oil importer like the United States, a large amount of oil is consumed every day both in production and in life.

As crude oil prices rise, costs are naturally higher!
When international oil prices rose sharply, the production costs of many American industries rose even more outrageously, and corporate profits were consumed by the sharp rise in oil costs.

In just a few months, thousands of companies have declared bankruptcy and are undergoing bankruptcy liquidation.

What’s even more frightening is that if this continues, more companies may go bankrupt.

The Japanese stock and property bubbles burst, but American companies did not seize this opportunity. American manufacturing products still have no competitiveness in the world, and the market share is not in the hands of the American manufacturing industry, but in the hands of Chinese companies.

"The U.S. economy can no longer withstand further increases in oil prices. Even the economies of European countries are becoming increasingly sluggish. If this continues, no one will be able to bear the consequences. If we fail to cope with it properly, perhaps a new round of financial crisis will break out!" The senior economic adviser was very pessimistic.

With so much military spending, almost all of it is invested in the United States.

War can stimulate the US military industry and in some ways drive economic development.

However, a lot of the profits here are actually squeezed out by the increased costs caused by rising oil prices.

"And there is one thing we must pay attention to. The Soviet Union's oil pipelines and natural gas pipelines to Europe are already in operation. Europe is getting closer and closer to the Soviet Union. If this continues, once Europe turns to the Soviet Union, it will be catastrophic for us in the United States." The senior geostrategic adviser said very seriously.

Europe is where America's greatest overseas interests lie.

The United States has always used the Soviet Union as a threat to unite Europe, and NATO is a military organization targeting the Soviet Union.

The United States is well aware of the importance of Europe.

All other overseas countries and regions combined are not as important as Europe.

With Europe in hand, the United States is one of the two poles and the world's maritime hegemon. Only the Soviet Union can compete with the United States.

If the United States loses Europe, it will be trapped on the world island and dominate the world in a corner, just like the United States after the end of World War I.

After all, compared to Asia, Europe and Africa, which are all connected, the United States is just an island in the world, far away from the center of the world. So in terms of strategy, the United States actually learned from the United Kingdom.

It’s just that compared to the UK, the US is not very good at it and is actually much worse.

The others all looked serious.

After the outbreak of the second oil crisis, Europe began to discuss with the Soviet Union the construction of oil and natural gas pipelines. The United States was very opposed to this because it would undoubtedly bring the Soviet Union and Europe closer, which was not in the interests of the United States.

However, European countries have a strong demand because Europe has been frightened by the first and second oil crises.

The economic downturn in Europe is largely due to rising oil prices and high social welfare.

There is nothing we can do about this.

Europe is closest to the Soviet Union. Even socialism originated in Europe. Europe is deeply influenced by socialist thought.

If we don't provide high social welfare and let people enjoy social life, maybe people like the French will rise up and show their bravery. You know, France is a world revolutionary base. It was the French revolutionaries who hanged King Louis XVI to death. France has a revolutionary tradition in its bones.

"In that case, I will approve the use of strategic oil reserves, and also let our allies use strategic oil reserves together!" Bush said in a deep voice.

The Gulf War is a battle that can only be won and cannot be lost.

If they win, that would be good, of course, as the US can gain huge benefits from it.

If it were defeated, the United States would inevitably face further decline and would probably be even less able to compete with the Soviet Union.

The public opinion mobilized before the war is surging. If we win, we will gain a lot, but if we lose, we will suffer a huge loss.

So the United States cannot afford to lose this battle.

To this end, the United States mobilized 52.7 troops, eight aircraft carriers, more than warships, a large number of aircraft, tanks, missiles, and a large number of high-tech weapons.

"Release 10 million barrels of the 150 billion barrels of strategic oil reserves into the market every day. If that is still not enough, increase it to 200 million barrels per day!" Bush Sr.'s eyes flashed coldly. Strategic oil reserves are the trump card of the United States to regulate oil prices.

After continuous construction of reserve oil depots over the years, the United States' strategic oil reserves have reached 10 billion barrels.

In recent years, the reason why world oil prices have never fallen, in addition to the war, is that the United States needs to import a large amount of oil every day. The United States not only consumes a large amount of oil every day, but also buys oil for reserves.

And it's not just the United States. European countries such as Britain, France, West Germany, Italy, and Japan have also established strategic oil reserve systems.

The total strategic oil reserves of these countries are much larger than that of the United States.

Based on the U.S. daily consumption of 1990 million barrels in the first half of 1765.5, the U.S.'s existing strategic oil reserves can supply the country's consumption for about 56 days.

Now, in order to win the victory of the Gulf War and win the hearts and minds of the people, the United States has decided to use its strategic oil reserves.

According to the current market oil prices, using the strategic oil reserves can only make money and not lose money. After the war, when the oil price drops, more oil can be imported as strategic oil reserves.

(End of this chapter)